Copyright Issues

Determining Copyrights

The nature of historical, archival and manuscript collections often make it difficult to determine the exact copyright status of an item. There are many issues related to copyright. There are several resources on the Internet that can help you to determine the copyright status of the materials in your collections:

Copyright Statement

All items available through or included in the Iowa Heritage Digital Collections (IHDC) may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). Use of some items may also be subject to additional restrictions imposed by the copyright owner and/or the contributing institution. Transmission, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use under the copyright laws generally requires written permission of the copyright owners. Users must make their own assessments of rights in light of their intended use.

Contributing institutions are those who make digital content available through the IHDC. These institutions may or may not own the digital and/or original materials and may or may not own the copyright to the materials. Users have an obligation to determine and satisfy any copyright or other use restrictions when copying, publishing, or otherwise distributing or using materials available through or included in the IHDC.